Welker never thinks about his Super Bowl drop

Wes Welker has caught 841 passes in his NFL career, plus another 79 in the postseason, and yet one of his most memorable plays was a pass he failed to catch.

That pass, a costly drop late in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLVI, a game the Patriots would go on to lose to the Giants, has haunted Patriots fans ever since. But Welker says it doesn’t haunt him, and he won’t be thinking about redemption when he plays in another Super Bowl on Sunday.

“You know what? I don’t even think about it,” Welker said when asked about it at Media Day. “The past is the past, what happened, happened and I’m just looking forward to this one and going out there and playing my best game and doing what I can to help my team win.”

Welker didn’t get much help from Patriots quarterback Tom Brady on the play in question: Welker was open enough that it should have been easy for Brady to hit him in stride, but instead Welker had to alter his route and reach back for the ball. Welker will be hoping that Peyton Manning throws him better passes on Sunday. And Manning will be hoping that Welker catches everything that touches his hands.

I remember watching that and going how the hell did he drop that? Every replay I’ve seen since I wonder how the hell did he get his hands on that? He’s 5-9 people. Brady put it where it had to be just a little high, if Welker was 5-11 he would have caught that. The Baltimore drop last year was more a legit drop.

Good grief, why bring this up? Welker has had an excellent career, and with two or three more solid years, he’ll be a legit HOF candidate.

That pass from Brady would have been a tough catch, and yes he probably should have caught it, but it shouldn’t define his career. Brady could have been a little more accurate with his throw as well.

This kind of thing happened to Jackie Smith in SB XIII. Smith had an outstanding career with the mostly mediocre St. Louis Cardinals. He gets to play his final season in Dallas, and the thing people remember most about his career is that dropped pass from Staubach that ended up being the difference in the game.

yeah, i’m sure he never thinks about it. Pats fans (myself included) can root for seattle all we want…but the fact is, Welker is going to catch the game winning touchdown late in the 4th quarter and of course all of the media will have to harp on the whole “in your face belichick” thing. unfortunately for us Pats fans, that’s the way it’s gone the last ten years. and per my usual, i have to add this in…any of you morons out there that still think the pats had an advantage from that so called video taping scandal, you need to get over it. they had literally ZERO advantage. several former NFL head coaches have agreed with that. GET OVER IT.

One of 2 plays that stand between the Patriots having 4 rings and the spygate clowns saying they haven’t won anything since spygate. So because Welker drops a pass that hits him in both palms that would have all but assured the Patriots win that game, it means they can’t win without a camera that was filming hand signals in plain view to 70,000 people in the stadium? Makes no sense. Just bad luck for the Pats I suppose.

On the degree of difficulty for Welker…sometimes you have to make a tough catch to win a Super Bowl. See Tyree and Holmes. The pass hit him in both hands and he didn’t hang on. Brady had to angle it to the outside to avoid either a pick or Welker getting annihilated by Kenny Phillips who was deep lurking along the hashmark. Is what it is.

The throw from Brady was high and besides, Welker had a brilliant career with the Patriots. I wish the Patriots had never let him go. Anyway, the critical mistake in that SB occurred in the 1st quarter when the Pats recovered a fumble but were called for having 12 men on the field. Result: first and goal and a TD for the Giants.

I’ve never blamed Welker for that “drop”, Brady is more at fault. Wes was wide open and Brady threw it high and behind Welker. The still shots don’t do the difficulty of that catch justice. He had to jump and spin 180 degrees back towards Brady just to get in position to get his hands on it. If he made the catch it’d be a great catch to bail Brady out.

The fault belongs squarely on Brady’s shoulder. It was a pass a high school quarterback would have made, but it was virtually uncatchable. Welker has nothing to be sorry for. Brady should apologize, but then he used to missing wide open receivers in key moments of important ball games! Then he doesn’t eve accept the blame for it!

Wes was WIDE OPEN but because Tom throws pre determined passes he threw the ball like it was covered it was high, and wide on the back shoulder with little to much power and not enough touch. Pretty much the only place he could of put it to make the catch tuff to handle. Wes was forced to jump, spin, locate the ball, and catch a pass that was throw way to hard for the situation. Another reason why TB is an avg QB. He throws so many 5 yrd bullet passes that when he’s forced to throw a touch ball he often over throws it, or throws an inaccurate pass. That drop was all on Brady for making it harder than it had to be. I’m also a believer that if a pass hits your hands you should catch it. I place 50/50 blame on that play.

If you watch the whole play, Welker wasn’t as wide open as it seems. Brady always threw it to protect Welker so he didn’t get killed. Welker knows that, and it’s why he survived going over the middle for six years without numerous concussions.

Welkah is a good teammate for not throwing Brady under the bus. That was clearly a bad throw by Brady when his accuracy was needed most. Just like the throw to the wide-open Edelman in the Broncos game. And the pass to Dobson down the sideline. And the throw to the wide-open Edelman in the end zone that sailed 10 feet over his head. Is anybody still wondering why Brady so “graciously” took a pay cut last year and Belichick built up the run game? Age has caught up with Brady, and the coaches know it. As a Pats fan, I never thought I would see the day where a successful game plan was to bottle up the run and make Brady throw the ball, but that’s what John Fox did and it worked beautifully.

He doesn’t think about it at all because he can’t remember it. He’s concussed. One more flutter ball from Manning as he tries to secure that Omaha Steaks advertising gig, and that will be a wrap for Welker.

aljack88 says:
Jan 28, 2014 7:47 PM
forsbergler says:
Jan 28, 2014 5:58 PM
……….. That drop was all on Brady for making it harder than it had to be. I’m also a believer that if a pass hits your hands you should catch it. I place 50/50 blame on that play….

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My Gawd, I agree with forsbergler about something.

Welker has been a very good WR. A “great” WR makes the play that he didn’t, especially with the SB on the line.

CBs drop throws like that and no one blames them, that’s why they aren’t WRs. Wes is a WR and there is no excuse, he cost the Patriots another ring. But he doesn’t think about it, the money they payed him was already spent I guess.

Wrong, bad throw by Brady to wide open receiver cost them the game. Average high school Quarterback makes that play – go Wes, get that ring! You, Manning and Champ and a lot of others on that team deserve it!